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Kia Takes Different Route
Move Forward
Kia has always prided itself to be a cut above the rest. Many of the world's biggest and best automakers have bannered the Detroit Motor Show. Instead, the Korean automaker chose to unveil its electric vehicle at the Las Vegas Consumer Electronics Show.
According to the carmaker, the choice of unveiling at the CES instead of being in Detroit was due to its perception that Las Vegas was the proper venue instead of the carmaker summit. The company merely reiterated that it would be the electronics industry that would lead the way in the full electrification of the transport industry.
Kia unveiled two alternative vehicle designs at the CES. The first one is the all electric Ray subcompact and the concept Naimo EV. Both vehicles store their power in lithium-ion battery arrays that power one electric motor.
The Ray was the very first commercially available electric vehicle in the Korean market. This version is assembled in the very plants that also build conventional fuel cars. The main inspiration for the Ray's design is the Korean psyche, leading to a clear Korean look and feel to the vehicle. The Ray's range is 86 miles to a fully charged battery to power its fifty-kilowatt electric motor to create 67 horsepower of torque. The top speed is at 81 miles per hour.
The Naimo Concept Electric Vehicle, on the other hand, was developed by the carmaker's European Design Center. This urban concept vehicle is a representation on how the carmaker sees the future of transport using electricity as fuel. This is a three-seater vehicle with an electric drive train. Its engine is a fully electric motor with an output of 50 kilowatts and 190 Nm of torque. The range of the vehicle for a single full charge of nearly 160 kilometers coming from lithium polymer gel batteries.
As the Pop or Naimo is still a concept vehicle, Kia is focusing production on the Ray EV. It plans to roll out 2,500 units in 2012, mainly for government fleet requirements. The company projects that full commercial production would be underway starting in 2014. As for the Naimo, the inspiration would be thinking outside the box for the future of electric transport.
The company in separating itself from the herd, has chosen a different venue for which to showcase its electric vehicle line. With the Ray and the Naimo-Pop concept, Kia is expecting to build its electric car base first in Korea and then the world.
Bobby Castro is the online editor at the Electric Car Forum, where he has published a number of articles about the Electric Car industry
Article submitted Tuesday, January 17, 2012 & read 2 times.
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